Thanks for the comment, and you made a good point. To a certain extent, it depends on your definition of progress. I try to focus specifically on increased material standard-of-living for the masses.
In this domain, I think the Enlightenment was a result of pre-Industrial progress in England, Netherlands and Northern Italy rather than a cause of modern economic growth.
In the domain of ideas, it is a very different story..The thinkers of the Enlightenment made major contributions to philosophy, political theory, science, art, music and literature. They also played a very important role in defining what modern Western culture is today.
But I just cannot think of a major technological innovation that followed from an Enlightenment idea.
So did the Enlightenment enrich our lives with ideas? Absolutely! Did they enrich our bank accounts? Not so much.
Do you think there's a case to be made that, although the enlightenment wasn't the main cause of the industrial revolution and subsequent economic growth, its ideas and the policies, laws and changes it inspired greatly accelerated human progress in 19th and 20th centuries? ( Meaning that though an a industrial revolution would have occured without an enlightenment, we've grown much more because of the ideas that took shape at that time.)
Thanks for the comment, and you made a good point. To a certain extent, it depends on your definition of progress. I try to focus specifically on increased material standard-of-living for the masses.
In this domain, I think the Enlightenment was a result of pre-Industrial progress in England, Netherlands and Northern Italy rather than a cause of modern economic growth.
In the domain of ideas, it is a very different story..The thinkers of the Enlightenment made major contributions to philosophy, political theory, science, art, music and literature. They also played a very important role in defining what modern Western culture is today.
But I just cannot think of a major technological innovation that followed from an Enlightenment idea.
So did the Enlightenment enrich our lives with ideas? Absolutely! Did they enrich our bank accounts? Not so much.
Any way, thanks again for the comment.
Do you think there's a case to be made that, although the enlightenment wasn't the main cause of the industrial revolution and subsequent economic growth, its ideas and the policies, laws and changes it inspired greatly accelerated human progress in 19th and 20th centuries? ( Meaning that though an a industrial revolution would have occured without an enlightenment, we've grown much more because of the ideas that took shape at that time.)